Masked Raider
Cal Brunder, a big league has become a menace of Cactusville, using his army of thugs to try and force the smaller ranchers into selling up their property. One night they attempt to coerce Jim Gardley into giving up his land but he refuses and fights back. Brunder's goons get the drop on him and take him to their boss, who gives Gardley one last chance to surrender his land, a request that is also refused. Cal has his men take Jim to the sheriff and have him charged on trumped up cattle rustling charges and he is locked in jail. Realizing the old sheriff is not cut out for his job anymore, Jim feigns being sick in order to trick the sheriff into opening his cell and Gardley knocks him out. Stealing a horse and riding out into the wilderness, Jim lets the horse free and then raids his own ranch for supplies. He spends the next number of days practicing his shooting skills until he has become a crack shot. Seeking a horse, he spots a white stallion running free and one day is surprised to see that it had been caught and penned in by a farmer. Freeing and taming the horse, he names it Lightning. Jim then decides it is time to go after Cal Brunder, and swearing to fight crime he dawns a black mask and dubs himself the Masked Raider. Meanwhile, back in town Cal Brunder gets opposition from the Bleck Ranch and sends his boys to shoot the ranch owner and burn the ranch to the ground as a warning to the other ranches to give up their properties. When the sheriff confronts Cal about it, Cal warns the sheriff against opposing him. Soon Brunder's reign of terror nets with success as the ranch hands prepare to deal with him. However, just after Cal hears the news he is alerted that one of his men has been shot. Pegged to his corpse is a note, a warning to Brunder and his men that they will pay for their crimes. After gaining the support of the sheriff the Masked Raider rides into Cal Brunder's ranch and begins dusting it up with his hired goons. As the Masked Raider deals with these goons Cal attempts to escape on horseback. However the Masked Raider ropes him in a lasso and pulls him off his horse. He then turns Brunder and his men over to the sheriff to be sent off to jail. After the Masked Raider leaves, the sheriff wonders if the Masked Rider will go after bigger criminals. A camp is shown in the Rawhide Range. It belongs to a man named "Hook" Tebbs. Named due to his right hand is a hook. He calls in his best gang member, Tex. He tells him to head to Prairie City to recruit new members into the gang so they can hold up the gold bullion train in Prairie City. Tex heads into town and soon runs into the Masked Rider at a saloon. The Masked Rider works his way into Tex's trust and makes him think that he is a criminal and that he has just robbed the bank of $10,000. Tex asks him to join the gang at their ranch. They head back to the ranch and Tebbs tries to tell the Masked Rider, now nicknamed "Streak", what to do and he stands up to Tebbs. Tebbs appreciates that and tells him to join him for dinner and asks him to join the gang. Streak accepts. As the men sleep outside, Streak sneaks off to warn the Prairie City sheriff what is going on and he heads off to gather a posse to stop the gang. Streak goes back to the ranch unnoticed. The next day Streak gets into an argument with one of the gang members named Miguel. Tebbs breaks it up and tells Streak of their storage well that has a ladder in it and not to get any ideas about it. As soon as Tebbs is gone, Streak goes down the ladder into the well. Tebbs sneaks in and surprises Streak and ties him up to wait for the rest of the gang. Streak escapes and signals the sheriff's posse. Tebbs also sees the signal and Streak dons his Masked Rider disguise and ties up Tebbs and Tex. The sheriff goes after the rest of the gang and thanks the Masked Rider. Mess Springs: Jeb and Dan Barnes, who own a seemingly valueless plot of land are constantly harassed by men under the employ of Jed Sirrah. They once more refuse to sell their land, and kick them off the property, warning them that next time they'll call the sheriff. Unknown to the Barnes brothers, the property has a valuable amount of gold and oil and Sirrah seeks to purchase the land before they can learn the truth. Brace decides to go into town with the intention of framing the brothers for a crime so the sheriff arrests them. To their good fortune, the sheriff is one of their old friends who has gone straight. When Brace and Barny warn him to stay out of their business he agrees to do so. When they report back to Jed Sirrah, he is furious that they went to the sheriff however is happy to learn the good news when he learns that they convinced him to stay silent. The following day they begin to add pressure to the Barnes brothers by dynamiting some rocks in the path of a stream that waters their property. The explosion brings the attention of the Masked Raider, who comes to town. The sheriff, knowing the raider is wanted dead or alive warns the Raider to surrender, however he is too fast with his guns and manages to send him packing. The Raider arrives at the Barnes property where he witnesses Sirrah's men trying to force the Barnes brothers into selling the property for even less. Feeling pressured now that their land is dead, the Masked Raider steps in and frightens off the thugs coming to buy the land. Jeb and Dan are furious until the Masked Raider tells them that their property is valuable. Riding into town, the Masked Raider, Dan and Jeb walk in on Sirrah and his men plotting to once more take over the land. When a gun fight breaks out, the Masked Raider shoots them all dead. When the Barnes finds proof of the Raider's claim of how valuable their land is they decided to make him an equal partner on their salvage when they realize he's already gone. When gold prospectors Zeb and Luke find gold, Luke sends Zeb into town to stake their claim and warns him against telling anyone about it. However, when Zeb stops for water he tells his friend Manuel about their find. It is overheard by a pair of thugs who decide to follow him into town and try and trick Zeb out of his claim. When Zeb files his claim he is confronted by the men who convince him to go to the saloon for a drink, but instead attempt to rob him of his claim paperwork. When he refuses to give it up, they club him in the back of the head with the butt of a gun and ride off to kill Luke. Zeb is found by the Masked Raider who revives the man and promises to help him get his claim back and protect Luke. They arrive just in time, as Luke has been out gunned and is ordered to surrender. The Masked Raider makes short work of the thugs however when Zeb and Luke offer the Masked Raider a partnership in their gold operation, the hero has already departed. In the town Fade-Out, Sheriff Ben Willis is dealing with a series of unsolved murders during an upcoming election for his job. He fears that someone is trying to foul him up close to election time so that he is not nominated again. As he explains this to a colleague he witnesses another horseback rider get struck dead by an arrow. Taking the dead man back to town, Willis is mocked by some of the trouble makers in town and a fight breaks out. As the fight is happening a man named Grimsey -- who is competing with Willis for sheriff -- watches with great interest. The fight is abruptly stopped when another man is struck and killed by an arrow. Grimsey suggests that the only person who could possibly shoot an arrow so skillfully would be "Injun" Joe. Injun Joe is remembered as someone who once was cleared of a horse stealing charge and was against the use of guns in favor of the bow and arrow. Soon the coroner informs the sheriff that he tips of the arrows had been poisoned. Deciding to investigate the murder scene at Robber's Rock, the sheriff encounters the Masked Raider. When the Raider offers his aid, Willis attempts to apprehend him, prompting the Raider to knock him out. The Raider beats him in a fist fight and tells him his plan to reveal the murderer, convincing Willis to camp out for the night. Posting a phony threat with an arrow, the Masked Raider watches Grimsey's home with a keen eye. Grimsey who has hired a man named Miguel to commit the murders and frame Injun Joe is furious at this unplanned circumstance and decides to pay his partner a visit. Unknown to him, the Masked Raider follows him and learns of the plot to replace Willis as sheriff. Although the Raider's retreat is overheard by the two men, they fail to recognize him or take him down with their shots. The Raider reunites with the sheriff and they find the unconscious body of Injun Joe who had been pinned under a rock to further implicate him in the frame up job. Taking Injun Joe to the sheriffs office, the Masked Raider tells Willis to go and challenge Grimsey to a duel. When he does, they meet at Robbers Rock where Grimsey has Miguel stationed to fire a poisoned arrow at Willis. The Masked Raider is there however, and he shoots the arrow before it can be fired, and Willis rounds up his would be murderers. After the Masked Raider leaves town, Willis is reelected sheriff of Fade-Out. El Pinos, near the Rio Grande, Pete Williams is attempting to buy back his ranch -- the Bar W -- from Sam Marvin. However despite only 55 days passing in the 60 day buy back clause, Marvin refuses to sell it back to Williams. Overhearing this, the disguised Masked Raider attempts to get into the middle of the dispute and a fight breaks out. Williams quick shooting saves the Raider from being struck with a bottle prompting Marvin to leave vowing to get back at Williams. Shortly, the sheriff enters the saloon and attempts to arrest Williams and the Raider on trumped up charged laid by Marvin, as well as the fact that Williams has a wad of cash that he refuses to divulge the source of (making the sheriff suspicious as there was a robbery nearby recently). However when the sheriff attempts to apprehend the Masked Raider, he flees the scene on his horse Thunder and races off toward the Bar W. Changing into his masked costume, the Raider searches the Bar W property and finds a cavern. There he overhears some goons talking about how they are using this as a staging ground to transport rustled cattle over into Mexico to be sold. However, before the Raider can act on this information he is clubbed from behind and is knocked out. When he comes around later he finds himself bound near a stick of lit TNT. Freeing himself from his bonds, the Raider manages to put out the TNT just moments before it can explode. Racing out to a river pass between Texas and Mexico in the Rio Grand, the Masked Raider easily rounds up Marvin's men. When Marvin tries to get the drop on the Raider, his horse Thunder comes to his rescue. With the crooks all rounded up, the Raider forces the cattle back into Texas and brings the captured crooks to the sheriff. When the plot is revealed, the sheriff releases Williams and gives him back his land. Williams then reveals that a friend had loaned him the money, and if he had revealed it before he got his property back Marvin would have killed his friend. When he turns to thank the Masked Raider for his help, he is surprised to see the hero is already riding away. Nat Parker and his son are riding home weary of running into robbers when they are suddenly ambushed. The Masked Raider (disguised as a cowboy) sees the altercation and comes to their rescue and sends the robbers fleeing, although Nat is winged and his son seriously wounded. Coming to their aid, the Rider notes that one of the dead horses is marked with a Bar Y brand. Riding them into town the Raider manages to get them to the doctor in time. However, when the sheriff arrives, he tries to pin the shooting on the Raider, despite Nat's claims of the contrary forcing the Raider to flee the scene. Changing into his costumed identity, the Raider pays a visit to Nat Parker at home and learns that the crooks have been plaguing him for some time. Stealing his cattle and horses and murdering his ranch hands. When someone tries to take a shot at the Masked Raider they fail, prompting the Raider to investigate the Bar Y ranch. There he finds the robbers however he is over powered and tied up. When Lightning chews threw his bonds he rides after the robbers and find them setting Nat's house ablaze. With the aid of Nat, the Masked Raider guns down all the men save their leader, who to their surprise turns out to be the sheriff. As it turns out, the sheriff was attempting to force Nat off his land because it was rich in minerals. With the sheriff exposed, the Masked Raider leaves him in the hands of Nat Parker. Mexican Pete, a local witnesses a bank robbery, where the teller is shot dead and attempts to follow the bandits. Along the way he comes across the Masked Raider who agrees to help capture the robbers. While investigating the crime scene, the Masked Raider would wonder why the bandits would rob a bank with little money, and would find a scrap of old newspaper on the property. With the help of Mexican Pete, the Masked Raider would track the crooks to a saloon in Rio Cacques. Getting the jump on the bandits, the Masked Raider would be knocked out. Surprisingly, when a lantern is knocked over the crooks leave the Raider and the stolen loot to burn. Mexican Pete comes to the Raider's rescue and they also collect the bag of stolen loot. They catch up with the crooks and capture them. Going back to the sheriff, the Raider explains that he has figured out the reason for the robbery. Going to the bank, he orders the bank manager to be arrested. The Raider explains that the manager had been embezzling his customers money, and in order to hide the truth coming out in an up coming audit, he staged a fake robbery in order to murder the teller, the only person that could implicate him of his crimes. With the bank manager arrested, the Masked Raider -- with his new partner Mexican Pete -- ride off before they can be thanked for their help. The Masked Raider stops the most recent in a string of stage coach robberies transporting gold into Lawson City. There he meets with his ally Mexican Pete who tells him he overheard a man named Shep Hanson who claimed to have found a gold mine and has kept it's location secret. Finding this suspicious, the Masked Raider decides to set a trap for the gold thieves. With the aid of the gold mine, sheriff and gold assayer, they set a trap for the thieves. Putting a lead solution into the next shipment of gold, they send it off on a stage coach without a guard. When it's robbed, the sheriff waits out in the assayer's office for the eventual arrival of Shep Hanson to cash in his ill gotten gold. When they confirm that the gold is that which was stolen from the stage coach, the sheriff attempts to arrest Shep but is knocked out. As Shep and his goons flee, the Masked Raider and Mexican Pete chase after them, and easily take them down. Beating Shep into submission he turns him over to the sheriff. Later when Shep is locked up, the Masked Raider gladly tells the crook how he was tricked into getting captured. The Masked Raider comes across a man named Jonathan Gregg, a tax collector who has been fatally shot. He explains to the Raider that a crook gunned him down to steal his tax papers so that he can pose as a tax collector and steal the tax money from the town of Two Forks. The Raider decides to go into town to warn the sheriff, however the crook had overheard the conversation and made it into town ahead of the Raider. The crook convinces the sheriff that he is in fact Gregg, and the Raider gunned down his partner. This causes the sheriff to try and apprehend the Raider, but he manages to flee. Changing into his costume, the Masked Raider breaks into the sheriffs home to once more try and convince him to help. The sheriff refuses to believe him, so the Raider kidnaps his daughter Sally telling him to deliver a false letter to "Gregg" if he wants his daughter returned safe. Riding off into the night, the Raider convinces Sally that he means no ill will and she agrees to go along with his plan. The next day, the sheriff gives over he letter to "Gregg", which is supposedly from a colleague of the real Gregg planning to come to Two Forks to discuss business with him. In a panic over potentially being exposed, the crook attempts to escape when he is confronted by the Masked Raider. The Raider pretends to want half of his money to keep his secret, and when the crook confesses to murdering the real Gregg, Sally appears and the sheriff arrives shortly thereafter. Sally confirms that the crook is the real murderer and he is taken into custody. In the town of Pwon Pass, the Masked Raider overhears a local chicken woman complain to the sheriff about how a man was prowling around her house, this in light of a series of unsolved robberies in the area. When the Masked Raider is spotted listening in, the sheriff attempts to capture him, but he escapes. That night, the Raider shows up at the sheriffs house, however his steal is ruined by the barking of his guard dog. When the sheriff comes out, the Raider explains that he has come to offer his aid in solving the string of robberies. Recognizing the Raider, the sheriff agrees to let the masked hero search his house. The Raider finds a clue that tips him off on who the thief is after the sheriff tells him not even his dog alerted him of the theft. He gives the sheriff a plan to follow the next day and departs. Soon afterward, the Raider inspects the old lady's chicken coop and finds exactly what he's looking for and escapes before he can be found. The next day, the Raider steals the sheriffs new hat in broad daylight, sending him and his deputies after the Raider. He then leaves it at the home of the chicken lady and sets a small fire in her coop. When the sheriff asks to inspect the fire the old lady refuses and threatens to shoot them for trespassing. The Raider arrives and shoots the rifle out of the old lady's hand. Inspecting the coop, they put out the small fire and find all the stolen loot, implicating the elderly chicken lady. When she attempts to flee, the Raider catches her in his lasso and reveals that she is not really a woman at all -- but a man who had been posing as a chicken lady to cover up his thefts, solving the mystery. Near the Rio Grande, the Masked Raider overhears a gangs plot to overthrow the authorities in Texas and annex the State. Learning that they have not met their master planner, Gidden, the Raider tracks down Gidden and captures him, sending him off to the nearby military camp on Lightning while he disguises himself. The Raider, posing as Gidden, uses Giddens maps to convince the crooks of his "identity" and leads them to the Rio Grand military outpost. There, under the instructions of the Masked Raider, the military allows the gang to steal what they think is gun powder. As they ride back to base, the Raider pokes a hole in one of the barrels to leaving a trail for the soldiers to follow. Later when the Raider is revealed as an impostor, he is tied to a barrel of the faux gun powder and it is lit to explode. However, when the military arrives, the gang realizes that he gunpowder is fake and the Raider explains that it is really fertilizer. The gang is soon rounded up and taken into custody.